Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.
Friedrich Nietzsche

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

The Blues

Steve Hatch holds a rare blue lobster that he and his uncle Robert Green caught Sunday, June 10, 2007 in a trap at the mouth of the Thames River in New London, Conn. The two donated the lobster to the Mystic Aquarium and Institute of Exploration where it will be used in one of the aquarium's classrooms. The blue coloring is the result of a genetic defect and only occurs in one out of every 3 million lobsters, according to Catherine Ellis, the aquarium's curator of fish and invertebrates. The aquarium also has two other blue lobsters. (AP Photo/The Day,Milton Moore) **

Wow! A blue critter in nature.

Think of how many critters that you know are blue.........times up! Not many other than birds.

Blue cows? Blue pigs? Blue elephants? Nope! A rare critter indeed.

Rare also is the concern for the goings on in Iraq right now.

I have been attempting to figure out why the average Joe just plain does not give a shit.

We in the US live in an isolated world separate from the rest of the world. A land of plenty and room to move around where ever we please if we can afford it.

Over the years we have become used to this arrangement and as long as it continues we will continue to believe we have nothing to worry about, nothing can stop us from doing what we want to do when we want to do it, we are self-important and very spoiled.

Look at a spoiled child and how he relates to the world around him. As long as nothing interferes with his existence, he will continue to believe he is the center of his own universe, no matter what occurs outside his narrow view.

We have become like this spoiled child, comfortable, complacent, and indifferent to the happenings of the world. 9/11 thrust us into the world and collective sadness rained down upon us like it did with Pearl Harbor.

What was the first thing we did after 9/11? Seek vengeance upon those that would disturb our existence of course.

Until then we will continue to do nothing except get along in our little world of imaginary bliss, not wanting to be disturbed by menial things like troop loss and foreign blood being shed daily in Iraq.

micki, you may be right on the election. I do not care if a Nazi is president but I would want the Dems to pick up 12 Senate seats and 30 House seats. If these additional numbers do not help the Dems to get out of their funk, then they are through as a party.

The additional Senate seats would keep Holy Joe from continuing to blackmail the Dems.

micki, I like your characterization of Lieberman as Holy Joe. Thinking of Joe as Holy is a good theme for a puke fest this summer.

Now, I'm not laughing...I just ent this leter to my a**hole congressman. What a jerk!

Dear Mr. Larsen:

I noticed in the response to my husband's inquiry about possible Articles of Impeachment, you state: At this time, however, I have not concluded that the President or Vice President has violated the law.

Well, others have "concluded" they have violated the law, including people who are Constitutional scholars and legal experts with the bona fides to clearly demonstrate their achievements and expertise on such matters. But, perhaps more germane to the point, they have concluded that the president and vice president are guilty of abuses of power -- which is impeachable.

You, I believe, are looking at this in purely political terms, rather than Constitutional or moral terms, which is pretty damned disgusting.

For starters, it is a crime to defraud or mislead Congress, whether Bush was under oath or not. When Bush was asked by Diane Sawyer, why he had made the claims he had about Saddam Hussein's alleged WMD, he said:

"WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE? THE POSSIBILITY THAT [saddam] COULD ACQUIRE WEAPONS, IF HE WERE TO ACQUIRE WEAPONS, HE WOULD BE A DANGER."

What's the difference??? Many Americans would not have gone along with Bush's illegal War of Choice if they knew that there was only the possibility that Saddam had nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. Additionally, Bush and others in his administration deliberately and with intent, repeatedly implied that Saddam was behind 9/11.

Bush and his subordinates, for whom he is legally responsible, committed fraud on the American people, by repeatedly disseminating information that they knew to be false.

But, perhaps, even more important, Bush violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act -- in fact, Bush even confessed that he did so! Sort of -- in your face, so what! And what about sanctioning torture? It has been shown, and is well-documented, that the Bush administration's official policy includes using torture -- torture, theoretically, is not an American value.

Additionally, it has been reported that the Bush administraton took funds from other projects to launch a war that was not authorized. That is illegal. It is illegal to target civilians. It is illegal to target hospitals. It is illegal to target journalists.

Indeed, it is a fundamental violation of the United States Constitution to use signing statements to alter the intent of existing laws.

For God sakes, Rick, these are not policy differences -- these violations of his oath of office rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors and abuse of power!

Keep in mind, that among the grounds for Nixon's impeachment was his LYING TO THE PUBLIC. Impeachment is not solely a legal question, so it is really irrelevant that you have not concluded that the president or the vice president have violated the law. When Nixon lied about the ongoing investigation and the cover-up that was known as Watergate, it was an impeachable offense without being an actual crime -- it was an abuse of power.

What part of abuse of power do you not understand? How do you define high crimes and misdemeanors?

I realized a long time ago, that you are a Democrat in name only. I hope someone comes along and knocks you out of Congress.

The Jungle, Sinclair's 1906 landmark expose of the U.S. meat packing industry's filth, created such public outrage that reforms were passed, and ultimately the Food and Drug Administration was created to serve as a public watchdog over food purity. But – Oh, Upton – if only you could see how pathetically feeble FDA has become!

Food fifth is back with a vengeance: scallops and sardines coated with putrefying bacteria; prunes with chemical dyes not fit for human consumption; frozen shrimp preserved with a cancer-causing agent.

These stomach-turning (and deadly) foodstuffs are not products from American processing factories – but from China. With the likes of Wal-Mart scouring the world for the cheapest possible products it can find, China is the fastest-growing source of U.S. food imports, flooding our markets with products unfit to eat. "Low-priced" food, you see, can come at a horrendously high cost.

So, where's our watchdog?

FDA's been reduced to a toothless yard dog. The Wal-Marts don't want fussy inspectors interfering with the smooth flow of their Chinese imports, so the Bushites and Congress have seen to it that only about one-half of one percent of foreign food shipments even gets checked. When FDA inspectors do find a container of contaminated food, it's simply returned to the Chinese shipper – and the tainted products are often simply reshipped to our shores, making two or three attempts to get in.

Yet, rather than clamping down at our ports, Bush & Company is about to increase the problem by authorizing companies to import chickens from China. Chickens? Why in hell are our supermarkets going seven thousand miles to get chickens, which America can grow in great abundance and quality in our own backyard? It’s not just sanitation that needs to be addressed. The globalized system itself that must be confronted.

An aggressive squirrel went on the rampage in southern Germany, injuring three people. But a 72-year-old pensioner put a stop to the mayhem, killing the creature stone dead with his crutch. Now the dead animal is being examined for rabies.

Alan, I'm gonna send that to Mel Martinez. I think he's looking for a new slogan for the GOP. That one fits the old geezers just about right.

"Yesterday at the G8 Summit, President Bush had a meeting with rockstar Bono. There was an awkward moment when Bush praised Bono and his band 'YouTube.'" --Conan O'Brien

"A low-level researcher at Yale University has been arrested for a scam he was running out of the Yale Law library. The guy claimed to be a lawyer and was charging illegal immigrants $5,000 a piece to get a greencard. They say this is the biggest scam pulled off at Yale since, I guess, George Bush got his diploma" --Jay Leno

Jon Stewart: Last night in Manchester, New Hampshire, the 10 Republican candidates prepared to take the stage for their party's third 2008 presidential debate ... of 2007. ... This debate wasn't about policy discrepancies. It's about America and the imminent death of its people if one of these people isn't elected On screen: John McCain calling the war 'a transcendent struggle between good and evil'. Stewart: A transcendent struggle between good and evil? They're going to pull out all the stops. There is nothing that they would not do to win and fight this war. On screen: GOPers unanimously opposing openly gay soldiers. Stewart: Apparently, the only thing worse for these candidates than another terrorist attack would be a gay hero stopping it. ... I don't want to say anything, but there are 10 candidates on that stage and the law of averages says one of these guys is a little Barney in the Franks.

Daily Show correspondent John Oliver, on lightning striking Rudy Giuliani while he was speaking about abortion at the GOP debate: "No, it was not a coincidence. That was divine endorsement. Or, in this case, God saying, 'Vote for anybody but Rudy Giuliani.' And God said unto the people of New Hampshire, 'a thrice-married New York City cross-dresser, oh, for the love of Me.'"

"Earlier today, a federal judge sentenced Scooter Libby to 30 months in prison for lying. I believe prison is not the place to be when your nickname is Scooter." --Jay Leno

"The third Republican presidential primary debate was in New Hampshire tonight. This is a very important debate ... because the election is only one year, four months, three weeks and six days away. There are 10 Republican candidates. ... There are now, I think, more Republican candidates than there are Republican voters remaining." --Jimmy Kimmel

"Scooter Libby, former aid to Vice President Cheney, was sentenced to 30 months in prison. Afterwards, Scooter said, 'I just hope I have the chance to clear my incredibly stupid name.'" --Conan O'Brien

"Some speculate President Bush will pardon Libby right before he serves jail time, while others ... know he will." --Jon Stewart

"He received a ludicrous 30 months in prison. 30 months? He only obstructed justice for a couple of hours. Now Scooter, I do have some advice for you when you check into the graybar hotel. ... The second you arrive, punch the first guy you see, then stand over that sucker and shout, 'You've been scootered.' ... Next, find Duke Cunningham and start your own prison gang. Call it 'Los Elephantes.' In the next few months, you're going to get a lot more members" --Stephen Colbert

"This week, President Bush is at the big G8 Summit in Germany. Many Germans are protesting his visit. See, that's when you know things are bad ... when the Germans think you're invading too many countries." --Jay Leno

"Vice President Dick Cheney said today the surge policy is working. In fact, gas prices have surged almost $4 a minute." --Jay Leno

"During last night's Democratic debate, all the candidates said that if they were elected, they would get rid of the military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy for gay soldiers. 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' will be replaced by the new policy, 'Don't Tell Me You're Wearing Those Boots With That Gun.'" --Conan O'Brien

"How about that thing over the weekend? The authorities busted that plot. They were going blow up the pipeline to JFK. ... Here's the scary part: it turned out the guys doing this ... were called homegrown terrorists. And who says President Bush hasn't created new jobs?" --David Letterman

"President Bush is off to Europe for the big G8 Summit ... and his approval rating is very low. Right now, he's less popular than that tuberculosis guy." --David Letterman

"Last night, CNN hosted the second in a series of infinite Democratic debates. ... Most people feel candidates should get more time to answer the questions than contestants on 'Deal or No Deal' get. ... What is with the raising the hand thing? From now on ... the only question candidates can answer by raising their hands should be 'Are you happy?' and 'Do you know it?'" --Jon Stewart

I just got an ultrajazzy boosterpack addon to my broadband; so all the toobz on the Internets seem a lot zippier these days. I Don't know how accurate this is; but it looks like a good start.

List of Governors with email contacts, phone numbers, fax numbers and links to their Kids page. Yes, a link to the Kiddie's page for each and every governor.

There's also this page that (if you scroll about half of the way down) has links to all the guys and gals that represent us in DC. Again, disclaimer, I don't know how accurate that list is or if it has been updated to show a list of the new Democrat majority in congress. Have at it.

Pande, that's a pretty good list, but it's not that user-friendly. I clicked on a few guvs at random and it's as I said, you have to go through the web form process. But hey....something is better than nothing.

CAN YOU LOCATE A LIST OF FOREIGN AMBASSADORS TO THE UNITED STATES WITH EMAIL ADDRESSES?

I found one for Dr. B night before last, but now I've LOST IT and cannot find it.

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About Me

DWF is dedicated to intelligence and the support of truth wherever it might be found. Coffee in the corner, donuts on the side. Notice: No neo-nazis, reich wingers, devil worshippers or other types of morons allowed.